Person of Interest ramblings

[rheasilvia]

Spoiler warning: These are general musings that don't contain any specific plot spoilers, but do refer to general characterization and relationship trends and developments. There are thus very vague spoilers for the entire series up to the present, and more specific spoilers about a single introductory, not plot-relevant scene of episode 2x17 (

Comments

[giandujakiss]

Yes!! I agree so much with all of this - I think Finch is exactly what he needs, someone who can give him orders and goals (trusting Reese to decide tactics), and he can trust those orders and goals and he doesn't have to make the decisions about them.

I also think you're right that he couldn't carry on by himself - I remember in 2x10, when he apologizes to Finch for miscalculating and getting caught - I think for Reese, in that moment, he wasn't thinking that he took a calculated risk and it didn't pan out - he was thinking that he deviated from Finch's orders, and he screwed it up.

I love the way you put it - holding his soul in trust - beautiful, and so true!!

[rheasilvia]

Exactly! Finch gives Reese far more freedom than he was ever given in the military or the CIA, entirely trusting him with the "how"... and he also gives him the safe, ordered framework to operate within, someone else making the big decisions, setting the goals.

I think that the very fact Finch trusts Reese so absolutely with the "how" side of the operation is another thing Reese desperately needs. Once he realizes that he can trust Finch, by extension he also begins to trust himself again - because Finch trusts Reese, and he trusts Finch not to be wrong. And, yes, because he cannot fail Finch.

I think for Reese, in that moment, he wasn't thinking that he took a calculated risk and it didn't pan out - he was thinking that he deviated from Finch's orders, and he screwed it up. Yes! And he's afraid that he's failed Finch, which is pretty much the worst thing that can happen in Reese's world. And yet even while he is completely willing to pay the price for his failure, he also trusts so completely that Finch will set things right and

[giandujakiss]

No, definitely doing it on purpose. It's an ongoing theme in the series, really - Reese opens by talking about connections, Finch constantly emphasizes that this is what the Machine does, it identifies connections. Reese tells every random person he meets that someone found him and saved him. In the pilot, Reese very deliberately says he doesn't have friends - in 2x01, the only thing he seems capable of saying is "I have to find my one friend." Even in 2x14, which is just a one shot (unless Logan Pierce appears again), there's all this emphasis on how social networking is about forging connections and everyone needs a connection to the world.

So no, not an accident - there's a very deliberate theme about the need for connection, and about finding those connections in unexpected, unusual ways.

[rheasilvia]

Only connect, as E. M. Forster would have said. ;-)

I love how clear it always is to others that Reese is not a lone ranger type of hero, but basically the loyal one-man task force sent out by the guy in charge. With the result that everyone new Reese meets just goes "ah, so there's the boss, huh" when they finally meet Finch, or "talking to the boss, huh", or something like that. ;-) (And, heh, "stalking the boss on your day off again, huh Reese"...)

Yeah, I love the obsessive stalking, too, and that they both just seem to interpret as a sign of affection and friendly interest. And is it just me or is Reese even kind of grabby with Finch, comparatively speaking? I mean, I'd actually have to watch the eps in question again to be sure, but when I was looking for icons I realized that Reese seems to touch Finch a lot more than I remember him touching anyone else.

[astolat]

basically just completely cosigning all of this with much love <3

Also I loved, related to this, in the most recent ep (All In) where Reese is willing to tolerate the Russian Roulette gun being fired at him and at Leon, which to me signals that he's evaluated the situation and taking action is equivalent to dying (as it would have been, had Lou not palmed the bullet) -- but when it's pointed at Finch, he acts anyway, and the only answer I can see is not that he thinks he can save Finch, but just that he'd rather be dead than watch Finch die.

[rheasilvia]

Yes! I interpreted the Russian Roulette scene the same way - Reese accepts the risk that he himself (and even comparatively innocent bystanders like Leon) will die. His own death doesn't scare him. But he cannot tolerate or allow any chance of Finch dying. Not only is that not an expected and acceptable risk in the context of their Quest, in Reese's mind, but it would also leave Reese totally unmoored, drifting and helpless again... unconnected to the world, unconnected even to himself. And that is his worst nightmare.

Reese really is extremely emo for such an unemotive guy. ;-)

[grackles]

This is perfect.

[rheasilvia]

:-) I'm glad I'm not the only one who interprets Reese and his dependence on Finch this way!

[grackles]

I was trying to explain how rich the characters are to a friend and failing miserably until I saw this essay. Now I can just link her!

[aliaswestgate]

I do agree with your assessment of Reese this way. He'd be completely lost without Finch. Finch also does his best to actually take care of him in just about every way possible.

Reese reminds me of Minekura's version of Cho Hakkai in the Saiyuki manga and anime. In that he would probably lose his mind if his Sha Gojyo died before him. He's co-dependent on an extreme basis on him, especially since Gojyo found him on the brink of death that particular night. Not very much different from Finch tracking down a weary, and very much courting death Reese in the pilot of POI.

I could go on about the similarities of those two pairs, but their level of complexity is very much on par. Though more obvious in Saiyuki, but just as many aspects are as subtle as Finch and Reese too.

Either way,i love how well you clarified this! Thank you.

[rheasilvia]

Yes, I love how Finch is just as solicitous of Reese as Reese is of him, if in completely different ways. But he gives his life new purpose and new direction, he gets him donuts, he buys him an apartment, he destroys the expensive bugged watch some other brilliant millionaire tries to give him... ;-)

Hm, that's a very interesting parallel - it wouldn't have occurred to me, but you definitely have a point. I've also always seen Hakkai as extremely dependent on Gojyo... although unlike Finch, I don't think Gojyo is aware of this. Neither can Gojyo be said to be the boss or master of Hakkai, in my view - in this pair, Hakkai is the more aware one, and the one who is steering the relationship. Not exactly the one more in control, though. It's complex, as you say! :-)

And it's definitely another one of the complex and fascinating, more than slightly obsessive fictional relationship of the kind I love best.

[mareen]

and very much courting death Reese in the pilot of POI.

I just want to add that in the original pilot script, it all starts on December 31st with Reese up on the Manhattan bridge (I think that was the one), ready to jump and kill himself. He only decides against it at the last minute. What we see in the pilot happens later.

[spatz]

Whaaaat, that is amazing. Do you have a copy/link for that script, by any chance? *hopeful*

[esteefee]

I suspect that Reese is, by nature, someone who prefers to carry out orders rather than give them.Reese directly contradicts this in canon, in response to Hersh, who says "We don't give orders, we execute them." Reese responds, "Speak for yourself." Right before smashing him with a glass

[mareen]

Reese directly contradicts this in canon, in response to Hersh, who says "We don't give orders, we execute them." Reese responds, "Speak for yourself." Right before smashing him with a glass.

And indeed, he is constantly giving orders to Finch, Fusco and Carter. So your statement puzzles me.

I think the difference between Reese and Hersh is that both of them are following orders, but Reese has made a decision whose orders to follow, and that he wouldn't follow them if he sees them as amoral, whereas Hersh follows each and every order no matter what it is

[esteefee]

Sorry? How does Reese saying he doesn't take orders get re-interpreted by you into him saying he is following Finch's orders?

But, in fact, Finch *isn't* Reese's Master - the Machine is *both* of theirs. They both take their Numbers from the Machine (which is a fatal flaw I very much fear will be exploited somehow in upcoming eps.) This is proven in the Contingency arc when Reese speaks directly to the Machine itself and bargains with it. And, in fact, I noticed it's only after Reese talks to the Machine that he stopped investigating into Finch's background information. (Ordering Fusco around to do it, btw.) Reese never fully trusted Finch until he'd actually spoken to the real Master. Reese needed to know who this final authority was that was handing down the Numbers, and just how trustworthy the entity was. By actually bending the rules for him so he could find Finch, the Machine proved itself to Reese. So yes, he has essentially decided on following a trustworthy source. But that source isn't Finch.

Because you'll note in

[mareen]

Sorry? How does Reese saying he doesn't take orders get re-interpreted by you into him saying he is following Finch's orders?Maybe I didn't make it clear what I meant or you are taking what I am saying too literally